Reincarnated as the Strongest Dragon

Chapter 16: Preparation II

“I should have known that when you said shop for provisions you actually meant something absurd.”

“Hmm? Did you say something?” I asked Liz as I finished putting a dozen meat skewers into my [Inventory].

“Normally adventurers go to the general store when they get provisions.”

“But we did go to the general store?” I said and cocked my head.

“You bought plates and other tableware!”

“Yes?”

“And then we walked all over town buying a bunch of food from restaurants and had them serve it on those plates so you could store it all.”

“I mean, isn’t it nice to have food ready when you get hungry?”

“Yes but it still hurts my head. You don’t usually have that kind of food while traveling.”

“I can get you some hard bread and jerky if you would prefer that?”

“It’s not that. It’s just that common sense thing again. How am I supposed to get used to that?”

“You can just accept everything. Make it easy for yourself,” I said with a smirk.

Liz just sighed. “I guess you are right.”

“I think that should be enough for today. Do you have something you want to buy?”

“Is there anything left to buy? I feel like you cleaned out half the town.”

“Guess I will move on to making the staff then,” I said and took out some coins from [Inventory]. “Could you do me a favor?”

“What is it?”

“Could you take this and pay for another night at the inn? I thought I would leave today so I only paid for one night,” I said and handed her six silver coins.

“Sure, but what will you do? Don’t you need a place and tools to craft things?”

“I will go to my secret place,” I said and winked. “I will be back in a few hours.”

We said our goodbyes and I walked into an alley, did my routine and flew towards the forest. After flying for a while I found a suitable spot that had an area free from trees and no signs closeby on the [Biomagic Radar]. I used earth magic to flatten and harden the ground and pulled out my masterpiece, my house, from [Inventory]. It was by no means a big house but it suited my needs perfectly. It has a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room, a study and my workshop. Everything I could ever need if I wanted to live alone.

I took out the pure entwood I got from the guild to use as the base for the staff. I refined a big light-attribute magic stone as the core for the magic medium and used one of my own scales along with some mithril, which both boast a high mana conductivity, to fashion the staff. For the grip I used leather from a shimmerling and as a finisher I added a coating of liquefied blockrock. For a long time that has been the baseline for my creations. After a few hours I had one completed staff. I packed up my house and flew back to town.

I walked into the inn and saw Liz and Mira eat dinner so I ordered my own food at the counter and walked over to their table.

“Already done?” Liz asked with a mouth full of food.

“Yeah, I’m quite happy with the result as well,” I said and sat down.

“Can I see?” Mira asked and leaned closer.

“After dinner,” I said and started eating the food Muscles had brought me.

“Booh!” Mira protested and started shoveling her food down.

After a rather rushed dinner we went up to Mira’s room. She sure is pushy for someone that was reluctant to accept .

We entered the room and she sat down on her bed looking at me with eyes full of anticipation.

“Aren’t you a little too excited about this? What if I give you a walking stick? I only spent a few hours making it.”

“Considering I don’t even have a walking stick at the moment It would still be an upgrade.”

“Well here is your walking stick,” I said and pulled out a white staff and gave it to her.

“Wow! It looks so cool. But why the dragon motif?” She asked while inspecting the staff.

“Uhm, I just thought it would look nice,” I said and glanced at a smiling Liz. “So what do you think?”

“Let me check the stats,” She said and squinted. “Huh?”

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Mira looked confused. “I can’t see anything about this staff.” 

“Oh, right.” I pointed at the head of the staff. “Channel some mana here and try again.”

Mira did what I said and once again tried to check the stats.

Item name: Dragon’s Favor

Durability 850/850
+82 Stamina
+119 Intellect
+97 Mind

Increases healing by spells and effects by 23%.
Increases the duration of friendly buffs and effects by 17%.
11% Cooldown reduction on spells.
Restores 0.108% mana per 5 seconds.
Removes one harmful effect every 483 seconds.

[Auto Repair Lv.10]
[Identify Blocker Lv.10]

Bound to:  Mira

“WHAT IS THIS?!” She yelled out, probably loud enough for the guests downstairs to hear.

“Did she craft something absurd?” Liz asked and looked at me. “Didn’t you tell me you could hold back?”

“... But I did hold back,” I said with a pout.

“I can't even get the name,” Liz said while trying to look at the staff.

I pulled out a monocle and gave it to Liz. “Try it with this.”

Liz tried again and just froze, dropping the monocle. I managed to catch it before it hit the ground, “Hey now, that one is valuable,” I said to the statue formerly known as Liz. Mira hadn’t moved since the initial reaction.

Maybe I should have spent some time looking through various armor and weapon shops in this town as well. What is even the average gear quality of C rank adventurers? Wait, is Mira even C rank? That was just my assumption. What if she is D? 

I poked Liz’s cheek and managed to get her to return to reality. “So, good, bad, decent? We didn’t check any equipment stores today so I don’t have a reference.”

Liz shook her head and sighed, “Maybe A tier? Hard to say, it might be higher.”

“Might have overshot it by a smidge then… but at least she will have a staff to grow into, you know?”

This is fine, right? She is a Priestess after all. It’s not like she will do any harm with a staff that boosts her support capabilities. It’s not like I gave a rocket launcher to a toddler.

“How long do you think she will be like that?”

Liz leaned down and started pulling on Miras cheeks. “Ow ow ow shtap iit,” Mira cried.

“Looks like she is back. So what do you think?” I said and batted my eyelashes.

“What do I think… It’s worth more than me…”

“I take it that you are satisfied then?”

“I love it. I will never let go of it, I will even bring it with me in the shower and in my bed.”

“That sounds a bit excessive but I'm glad you like it,” I said with a smile. 

Always fun when people appreciate one’s work. 

“What does bound to me mean?”

“When you channeled mana into the head of the staff it got bound to you, meaning it’s a fancy stick for everybody else.” 

“And the [Identify Blocker Lv.10]?”

“Means no one with [Identify] at level nine or below can see anything about it, not even the name.”

Liz raised an eyebrow. “Really does sound like national treasure level.”

I leaned over and whispered to Liz, “Want me to make you one that makes that one look like a twig?”

I saw that Liz seriously considered it for a moment, “No thanks.”

“I will never be able to repay you for this staff,” Mira said anxiously.

“Didn’t I say I didn’t need any payment?”

“But still, I can’t just take it!” She protested.

“You two are really alike, aren't you?” I laughed.

“Did you give something to Liz as well?” Mira asked.

“Yeah I gave her…” I put a finger on my cheek. “Confidence?”

Mira gave me a curious look. “Confidence?”

“Yep, a vial of confidence, potent stuff,” I said and smiled, “Anyway the staff is already bound to you, it's yours. It’s just a fancy stick for me now.”

Obviously a lie, I can reset the binding if I want to but just take it already. If I for some reason wanted a healing staff I could make one that makes that one look like firewood.

Liz sighed, “Just accept it, it’s just how she is.”

“I will, thank you! First you saved my life and now you give me this,” Mira said and hugged her new staff, “If Liz didn’t already call dibs I would jump you.”

“Oh, you called dibs?” I smirked and moved over to Liz.

“Wha, no I didn't! Mira what are you talking about?” Liz protested. “Also, don’t you already have Doug?”

“Ugh, don’t mention that loser.”

“Huh, why? Did something happen?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“... If you say so.”

“How about we try and get an early night tonight? Traveling to the capital will take a while so we might as well get going as soon as we can,” I said, trying to change the topic.

“Agreed, all the running around in town was exhausting,” Liz added.

“It was nice meeting you,” I said, looking at Mira. “Let me know how the staff feels when we come back.” I turned and started walking towards the door.

“Bring back Liz in one piece, okay?” Mira said with a smirk.

“No promises.”

“Why do I feel like you two became good friends way too fast?” Liz said with a pained expression.

“Says the one that went two steps further in the same amount of time,” Mira said and grinned.

“She got you there,” I said and laughed.